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The omens didn’t look too bright before kick off when a
glance around the dressing room revealed that no less than seven players would
be missing from Belper’s first home friendly match of the new campaign.
Defenders, James Colliver and Scott Lowe were reportedly
sunning themselves on foreign shores; Peter Smith and new signing Adam
Nixon were both at weddings, striker Ben Walker was absent through work
commitments, whilst Ben Kistell and Richard Haigh were both sidelined
through injury.
Kistell, who was suffering from a groin strain, was named as
a substitute but in the end he was not risked by joint manager, Danny Hudson,
who was in sole charge of affairs for the afternoon as his managerial
partner, Andy Carney was also a notable absentee from proceedings.
Kistell was joined on the bench to two young reserve team
players, Billy Page and Simon Hickey.
All of which gave some of the newcomers to the Meadow a
chance to impress and how well they performed against UniBond League
Premier Division side, Hednesford Town.
In the Nailers line-up came Jimmy Ghaichem, who has just
been released by Peterborough United, Steven Murphy, who has signed
recently from local side, Wirksworth Ivanhoe and reserve full back Aaron
Pride, who filled in for Colliver’s absence on the right side of defence.
The lack of numbers also meant that Micky Harcourt had to
play alongside skipper John Hobson in the heart of the Nailers defence.
On a beautiful lush green surface, the Nailers stroked the
ball around confidently in the opening stages but suffered ill fortune in
the 9th minutes when the ball ricocheted off two Belper
defenders into the path of Ross Draper who drilled the ball low into the
far corner with Paul Pettinger exposed on his goal line.
But the early goal failed to dampen Belper’s spirits and
they continued to look the more cultured and purposeful side, passing the
ball around accurately and probing diligently for gaps in the Pitmen’s
defence.
Their reward came after 25 minutes when a typically accurate
cross from the impressive Ghaichem was knocked back across goal by Andy
Rushbury for Anthony Wilson to bury his shot underneath Stuart Brock.
The Nailers were now playing with greater confidence and
their overall superiority in the opening half probably deserved more than
the 1-1 half time score line.
Again, it was Belper who were quickest out of the blocks in
the second half.
Wilson shot straight at Brock when he was left with time and
space inside the penalty area and then Brock preserved Hednesford’s
parity with a superb save from Ghaichem’s free kick.
But the Nailers were not to be denied and Wilson drove the
ball low inside the near post from a narrow angle after 50 minutes to
give Belper the lead that their endeavours had deserved.
Hednesford failed to help themselves when Chad Sheppard was
rightly dismissed for slapping Jimmy Ghaichem and then compounded his
misdemeanour by trying to kick the Belper player as he left the field.
Stud marks spotted on the Visitors’ dressing room door after
the match, were also an indicator of the degree to which the red mist had
descended over the Hednesford defender.
After that, the increasing wind and the general tiredness of
both sets of player saw the game settle into a more evenly balanced
contest with little meaningful action of note.
Belper survived a late scare when Pettinger saved a close
range effort with his head although it was doubtful that he knew too much
about it.
But in the end, the Nailers had deserved their victory over
their higher ranked opponents and it left one wondering just how good
this side could be when the missing personnel finally report for duty.
Mossley Smiffy’s
Photo Gallery
David Laughlin
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